


....That is not proper archival etiquette

by SoThisIsAThingIWrote



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Ben Solo is alive, Canon Divergent, Dyad schnanigans, F/M, Post TROS
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-09
Updated: 2020-06-09
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:35:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24617686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoThisIsAThingIWrote/pseuds/SoThisIsAThingIWrote
Summary: "Ancient Ithorian?""It's really not that different from Old Hapan," Ben says. "Both languages were established around the same time, and use similar syntax and grammar structure." His hands are starting to gesticulate along with him, like they always do when he's excited or happy to talk about something. Rey feels a burst of affection. "They both can be a little heavy handed on symbolism and allegory though-" he draws a rough circle in the air and Rey has to bite down a giggle at the realization that in Ben Solo's mind, language is a ball. She begins to slide along the couch towards him.  "-but if you have a basic understanding of their mythology you can generally make headway- mmph."Pssst. Ben Solo is a nerd. Pass it on.Just something soft.
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 12
Kudos: 114





	....That is not proper archival etiquette

**Author's Note:**

> Rough, unedited writing stream because I needed something soft. And wanted to play with a pet headcanon. Nerd Ben Solo has my heart.

It doesn't take Poe long to launch into an arm waving, hair tugging,  _ dammit I'm a pilot not a politician _ rant. 

"So we are trying to work out hyperspace lanes, right? And there's one that goes right through Bothan space. And the Ithorians want to use it because it's a straight shot to the mid rim. Easy, right? Freedom of movement in the name of the new New Republic, right? Well, turns out no, because here come the Bothans with this accusation of some ancient feud with the Ithorians-"

Normally, he finds excuses to not be in the room when Rey comms her friends. He would never

begrudge her them, or ever attempt to stop her from contacting them, but things are still a little….awkward. 

"-and the Ithorians are like, "what are you talking about!?!" and suddenly here comes the Bothan delegation with this, like, ancient letter that they maintain came from the Ithorians, claiming they've stolen some precious Bothan artefact-"

He could slip away now, he supposes, only it would be rather rude to just get up and go. Normally, this wouldn't bother him so much but there is the slight matter of the, er, slight  _ situation _ in his pants. Rey's friends have so far been willingly resigned to turning a blind eye to the fact that she is currently playing house with the former leader of the First Order, but they  _ had _ already been treated to the sight of her scrambling off his lap tonight, and there was no need to make what they'd interrupted Rey and him doing  _ overly _ obvious. 

Plus it was...indelicate.

Six years of being on the Dark Side did not, apparently, cancel out 10 years of etiquette training at the hands of Leia Organa.

"-only the damn letter is written in Ancient Ithorian, which  _ none _ of the current Ithorian delegation can read, because it apparently hasn't been used for like thousands of years. Not even  _ Threepio _ has this in his databanks. Six million forms of communication, including kriffing  _ Sith _ , and whoever made the goldenrod still didn't think to include this. But it doesn't matter, no, because the Bothans aren't budging until they get their... _ whatever _ back and so now I've got to somehow miraculously find someone who can read ancient  _ kriffing _ Ithorian and then track this thing down or the hyperlane goes to bantha shit-"

He's really not supposed to be informed about the inner workings of the new government. He should reach for the datapad he dropped earlier and pretend to be engrossed in it. He should pretend to hear one of the kitchen droids malfunctioning and make a break for it. He should, at the very least, nod sympathetically.

But Ben has never been very good at doing what he should, so instead he opens his big mouth;

"I can read ancient Ithorian."

  
  


***

Poe promises to send over a copy of the letter tomorrow. Rey pretends to hear a kitchen droid malfunction and ends the call not long afterward. One by one, the blue tinged visages of Poe, Finn and Rose wink out of existence. Not that Rey pays much attention, as she is already turned towards the man on the other end of the couch.

"Ancient Ithorian?"

"It's really not that different from Old Hapan," Ben says. "Both languages were established around the same time, and use similar syntax and grammar structure." His hands are starting to gesticulate along with him, like they always do when he's excited or happy to talk about something. Rey feels a burst of affection. "They both can be a little heavy handed on symbolism and allegory though-" he draws a rough circle in the air and Rey has to bite down a giggle at the realization that in Ben Solo's mind, language is a  _ ball.  _ She begins to slide along the couch towards him. "-but if you have a basic understanding of their mythology you can generally make headway-  _ mmph. _ " 

Rey smiles into the kiss. In her mind she pictures Ben surrounded by books, happy as a Jawa in a scrapyard as he teaches himself Hapan sentence structure. Only the image keeps changing, fluctuating between the sunny bedroom of his childhood to the stuffy library of the Jedi temple, her imaginary Ben growing and shrinking along with it.

Ben's cheeks are dusted pink when they finally break for air. He catches her eyes and looks away, the pink crawling up to his ears. Rey spreads her fingers across his cheek and tilts his face back to hers, her brow wrinkling. 

He tilts his forehead against hers and in an instant her mental picture of him as a student changes. Gone is the childhood bedroom or Jedi Library, the bright blue vest of child Ben or the sandy robes of a padawan. Instead, the Imperial Archive is cool and silent, the young man poring eagerly over manuscripts dressed in black robes, his mask forgotten on the table beside him…

Rey giggles. "Really?"

"The Imperial Archive has a wonderful collection of original documents," Ben says loftily.

Rey flicks his nose playfully. "You were supposed to be looking for the map to Luke, weren't you?"

"I  _ did _ look for Luke…...and then I read about Ithorian languages."

"For how long?" 

".....three days." 

Rey grins. "Did the archivists know? You couldn't have learned it all in just three days." The grin widens. "Did you check the books out?" She conjures an image of Kylo Ren, mask and all, staggering out of his shuttle with an armload of books, and sends it happily over the bond.

Ben snorts. "You can't check things out of an archive."

"...Did you  _ steal _ them?" The mental image changes to Kylo Ren stuffing books under his robe.

"Steal from an  _ archive _ ?"" Ben sounds scandalized. 

"Pictures then?" Mental Kylo Ren is suddenly bending over a desk, holding up a datapad and attempting to look through a viewfinder from behind his visor."

"You can't take pictures, it damages the paper," Ben says automatically, like something learned by rote. "I transcribed them."

Rey's mental picture changes once again, though not through her doing, to that same young unmasked man, hunched over the archive table, only now there is a splotch of ink on once cheek and the tip of a pink tongue poking out between slightly crooked teeth.

Another memory, rather than her imagination. 

And Rey wishes, as she so often does, that they'd found each other sooner. Wishes that she'd somehow been there in that archive and found him there. She'd lure him away with her by laying a breadcrumb trail of books and scrolls. Thick sheafs of creamy paper, with water paints and brushes, fine pens and those little pots of metallic ink he always looks longingly at whenever they go to the market but refuses to buy because of the expense…

"They  _ are _ too expensive," Ben murmurs softly, forehead still pressed to hers.

"Too late," Rey murmurs back, "I already bought you them." But she changes her mental image obligingly, from laying a trail to pinning him down on the table itself, amid the scrolls and books and-"

Ben pinches her. " _ Not _ on the documents, you cretin."

The image dissolves with a breathless laugh. "Oh, just take me to bed, you giant nerd."


End file.
